R. Kelly sex saga returns to Lifetime
NEW YORK — Few TV documentary series can boast having a more powerful real world impact than “Surviving R. Kelly.”
Though allegations of sexual abuse against minors followed R&B superstar R. Kelly for years, it was a six-part series aired by Lifetime last January featuring testimonials by alleged survivors that sparked new attention from authorities.
A year later, Lifetime is readying a follow-up series, “Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning, ” with one major difference: this time, R. Kelly will be behind bars when it airs.
Brie Miranda Bryant, a senior vice president at Lifetime, said the new series takes a deeper look at some of the issues the first one raised. The first had 54 interviews; the follow-up has almost 70.
“It’s not really about R. Kelly. It’s about sexual violence against women in general and how we change that dialogue,” she said.
“Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning” will premiere Thursday on Lifetime. The six-hour series will run for two hours a night for three consecutive nights, concluding Saturday.
An estimated 26 million people saw all or some of the original Lifetime documentary series that brought together dozens of people who accused the singer of sexual misconduct and kidnapping.
Kelly, 52, is in jail, scheduled to stand trial in Cook County in September, then in federal court in Chicago in April and again in federal court in New York the next month.
Kelly has denied all the allegations related to sexual assault with minors.